I’ve created a geeky masterpiece! Behold, my 404 Fowl Not Found Easter egg.

After I had my egg epiphany, I Googled ”404 Fowl Not Found” to see if it had already been done. As you can see, Hootsuite beat me to get idea, but I have the first (as far as I can tell) egg-carnation.

And as a parting shot, the ever-present under construction egg. It’s as maligned here in Illinois – state of constant construction – as it is on the interwebs.

Two years ago when Google+ launched, I had high hopes for its value as a marketing platform to rival Facebook and Twitter. Read my enthusiastic missal, “Google+: The Beginning of a Revolution?” The reality of Google+ for marketers thus far has been less than glorious, with low adoption rates for many ecommerce sites’ target audiences.

Even so, Google+ matters to search engine optimization.

I know, your audience isn’t on Google+. The consumers you’re trying to reach are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn. So why not engage with them on their social platforms of choice, but echo the conversation on Google+?

Paid and organic search work better together. Because searchers inherently trust that search engines are recommending the best pages in search results, when brands rank well in both paid and organic search their search performance for that phrase tends to increase. However, measuring that increase has been a bit challenging until now.

Google AdWords released a new feature this week enabling search marketers to measure performance of their paid and organic search efforts. The “paid and organic report” can be found in the AdWords campaigns tab as a dimension.

Analyzed together, paid and organic search data can uncover a wealth of optimization opportunities. Taken together, paid and organic search represent a large portion of the available real estate on the search results page. The larger your brand’s footprint on the search results, the more likely searchers are to choose one of your listings over the competition.

For example, the report could show keywords that are driving organic search traffic but no paid search traffic. Those keywords could be added to your AdWords campaigns to drive additional traffic and potentially boost the effectiveness of the organic search listing as well…..

Worth $35 if you have an HDMI port on your TV? Yes, especially if you don’t already have a Roku, Apple TV, game console, etc. to stream from the interwebs. Or if you have Google Movies or Music content already. Or if you travel and want a streamer that’s super portable.

I’m an Android diehard. I carry my Samsung Galaxy Note II with me everywhere I go, my husband sports a Motorola Android phone and we have an ASUS Transformer tablet. Chromecast fits neatly into that picture.

I suspect I’d love my new Chromecast if…

If I couldn’t already stream Netflix on our Roku.

Or if I had content already purchased on Google Movies or Play.

But since neither of those is true, it’s just a nifty gadget for me until more apps come on board to extend its functionality.

Operating Chromecast is simple: Plug it in to your TV’s HDMI port and power it via USB or standard wall outlet. Then download and install the Chromecast app for Android or the Chrome browser extension (PC/Mac). The Chromecast app talks to the Chromecast dongle plugged into your TV and operates it like a remote control.

Chromecast works with 4 apps now (Netflix, YouTube, Google Movies & Google Music). Notice that 3 of those are Google owned.

From your PC you can also use your Chrome browser + the Chromecast extension to mirror your browser content to your TV. This feature is in beta, but I got Amazon Prime Video to stream in full screen from my PC with no problem. Decent picture, but my connection was freezing so I had to degrade the quality in the Chromecast extension’s options. You can also use your browser to stream local files to your TV, but I haven’t tried that yet. Read about this tip and more at CNET: Tips and tricks to improve your Chromecast experience.

Rumor has it that Pandora, Redbox, HBO Go, Vimeo and others are looking into supporting Chromecast as well (via Gigaom).

Chromecast’s Interface is decent, set up was easy, menu visuals on the TV are nice. We have five different Wi-Fi points here at home to connect to (a couple of extenders in the mix) and Chromecast didn’t balk at being connected to a different signal than my phone.

I’m rooting for Chromecast – our Roku is flaky and sometimes just plain old doesn’t work for no discernable reason. I’m hoping Chromecast can eventually take its place in our media lineup.

Google Webmaster Tools launched its new manual spam actions feature yesterday, enabling verified site owners to check whether their site has been manually penalized by Google.

Over the last couple of years, Google has slowly increased its communication to webmasters, with the goal of fighting webspam by educating site owners on how it impacts their performance in search results. Previously, Google would leave notifications about manual actions taken against a site in the owner’s Webmaster Tools account. This feature augments the notifications with a real-time tool that performs a live check against Google’s internal webspam systems.

]]>https://webpierat.com/2013/08/09/banned-by-google-check-now-in-webmaster-tools/feed/02577Detecting Unfair Linking Practices … by Whose Definition?https://webpierat.com/2013/08/07/detecting-unfair-linking-practices-by-whose-definition/
https://webpierat.com/2013/08/07/detecting-unfair-linking-practices-by-whose-definition/#respondWed, 07 Aug 2013 11:43:19 +0000http://i-devs.com/~wpradmin/w/?p=2558Each of Google’s recent algorithmic updates shares a focus on improving the quality of search results by detecting and removing factors that give some sites unfair advantage over others in the rankings. The criteria for fairness in search results are highly subjective, but Google and the other engines consider content and behavior from “real” people who act without personal gain the most valuable.

For example, imagine that two sites sell the same brand of widgets online. Each site has 100 links from 100 other sites pointing in to it. The first site has attracted 100 links from media sites, bloggers and other people who write unique and relevant content about shoes simply because they’re passionate about them.

The second site wants to get ahead fast, though, and builds links in all the directories, article sites, wikis and blog comment sections they can find. They don’t focus on building the content and relationships necessary to earn links naturally. The second site has the same number of links, but the quality and topical relevance of those links are much lower because they’re manufactured artificially by the company to improve rankings. To the extent that the search engines can detect these lower value links, the second site’s ability to compete in the search results will decrease.

Why is this “fair” in Google’s eyes?

When real people write real content with real links, those mentions and links vouch for the value of a site. After all, why would real people bother writing about or linking to another site if it didn’t have some value? And if real people value a site enough to write about or link to it, it stands to reason that searchers will also value that site as well. Compared to the first site, which has earned real links from real people writing real content, Google considers the second site to have less value. After all, the second site had to artificially create their own links because other sites weren’t linking to them.

In reality, very few actions happen online without some form of self-interest. Writers are paid to write articles. Ecommerce sites make money when they sell goods. Publishers make money from ads. Nonprofit sites accept donations. Even unpaid work online is often done to increase someone’s credibility or build relationships that my later bear fruit in other ways. Regardless, our personal thoughts on the fairness of Google’s link spam definitions are irrelevant.

Google’s search results pages belong to Google, and their definition of fair is the only one that matters if you want to drive organic search traffic.

Google’s search result quality mission stands seemingly opposed to the search engine optimization practice of link building. For years, SEO professionals have worked to increase the number of external in-bound links to a site in an effort to build authority and trust, thus boosting organic search rankings. One by one, Google has been devaluing these tactics, and press release distribution is the latest target.

Until recently, optimized press releases were a legitimate if increasingly overused link-building strategy. Press releases are written as part of a company’s normal course of business, and links are naturally included in the body of the press release as they would be in any piece of content on your site. So far, no problem.

Then eager marketers realized that optimized links in press releases would pass link value back to their site when distributed via a press release syndication service like PR Newswire. Sites all over the world receive feeds from these distribution services and repost them on their own sites, typically with links still intact. Next came the spam: overabundant linking within the press release coupled with over-optimized anchor text.

According to Google, press release distribution for SEO benefit is just another source of paid links. You pay for the distribution service, and the result is (was) SEO benefit. In fact, PR companies openly listed SEO among the benefits of using their service. As with other forms of paid linking, Google is devaluing these links now. They’re also asking webmasters to nofollow links in press releases in the same way that links from advertisements should be nofollowed…. Read more at “SEO: Google Devalues Another Link-building Tactic.”

If your organic search metrics have been fluctuating more than usual recently, you’re in good company. Google rolled out four notable algorithm updates in the two months between May 21 and July 15, including a Panda update and the much-anticipated Penguin 2.0 update.

Each of the updates shares a focus on improving the quality of search results by detecting and removing factors that give some sites unfair advantage over others in the rankings. This summer’s updates focus on low-quality link signals, content quality and domain advantages. In each case, Google’s intent is to combat the low-quality or spammy search results that can gum up its search results and lead to poor searcher experience. The updates discussed include:

Penguin 2.0: Next Generation Link Spam Weapon

Payday Loan Algorithm: Spammy Queries

Partial Match Domain Update

Panda Detuning

Keeping track of Google’s algorithm updates and deciphering which may have had an impact on your site can be very challenging. The Panguin Tool is one of the easiest ways to look for correlations between your Google Analytics and the Panda, Penguin, and other Google updates. Just log in with your Google Analytics account and Panguin Tool shows your organic search visits overlaid with a timeline of algorithm updates. Moz also offers a handy list of algorithmic events with links to relevant articles describing each. Read more at “SEO: 2 Months of Algorithm Updates.”

Keywords are the foundation of search engine optimization. They’re what searchers type into Google’s search box, and what marketers incorporate into their web pages to attract searchers to their sites. Google recently launched a new tool that changes the way we research keywords: AdWords Keyword Planner.

Intended for use by paid search marketers, the Keyword Planner replaces the AdWords Keyword Tool I’ve often recommended using and merges it with the AdWords Traffic Estimator. In essence, the Keyword Planner is designed to simplify keyword research and campaign planning for paid search marketers.

Despite its AdWords focus, the Keyword Planner can still be used by SEO professionals. The core of the toolset revolves around keyword volume, a measure central to both paid and organic search.

For those familiar with the Keyword Tool, the new interface will take some getting used to. Where the Keyword Tool offered a single interface to accept keywords and return keyword data, the Keyword Planner gives marketers three choices for how to proceed.

Really, though, it doesn’t matter which we prefer, the old Keyword Tool or the new Keyword Planner. The Planner was launched in mid-May, and the AdWords Keyword Tool should be discontinued sometime this month. Since the Keyword Planner is here to stay, get used to the interface before the Keyword Tool disappears and you’re left scrambling for data.